Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-22

George Bancroft, sit down with him at nus
table; but tell me, ye who know most OF
the worlds history, what other king ever
asked the. abandoned, and the forlorn, and
the wretched, and the outcast to come and
sit down beside Him? o, wonderful IN
vitation! You can take it to-day, and stand
at the head of the darkest alley in all this
city and say: 'tCome! Clothes for your
rags, salve for your sores, throne for your
eternal reigning." A Christ that talks
like that, and acts like that, and pardons
like that-do you wonder that stephen
stood looking at Him? l hope to spend
eternity doing the same thing. must see
Him. must look upon that face once
clouded with my sin, but now 1adiant WIZ
my pardon. I want to touch that hand
that knocked off nay shackles. want to
hear that voice which pronounced my de-
liverance. Behold Him, little children; for
if you live to three-score years and ten
you will see none SO fair, Behold Him, ye
aged ones; for He only can shine through
the dimness of your failing eyesight. Be-
hold Him, earth. Behold Him, heaven. -
What moment when all the nations OF
the saved shall gather around Christ! Ali
faces that way. All thrones that way, gaz-
ing-gazing on Jesus.
"His worth If all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love Him too"
pass on now and look at Stephen stoned.
The world has always wanted to get rid of
good men. Their very life is an assault up
on wickedness. Out with Stephen through
the gates of the city. Down with him over
\ the precipices. Let every man come up and
drop a stone upon his head. But these
men did not so much kill Stephen as they
killed themselves. Every stone rebOunded
upon them. While these murderers were
transfxed by the scorn of all good men,
fStephen lives in the admiration of all Chris
| tendon. Stephen stoned; but Stephen alive.
So all good men must be pelted. All who
will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution. 1t is no eulogy of man to
say that everybody likes him. Show me
anyone who is doing all his duty to State or
Church, and will show you scores of men
who utterly abhor him.
If all men speak well of you it is because
you are either a laggard or dolt If a
steamer makes rapid progress through the
waves the waters will boil and foam all
around it. Brave soldiers Of Jesus Christ
will hear the carbines click When see
man with voice, and money, and influence
all on the right side, and some caricature
him, and some sneer at him, some denounce
him, and men who pretend to be actuated
by right motives conspire to cripple him,
to cast him out, to destroy him, say:
''Stephen stoned.' When l see man in
some great moral or religious reform bat
Ting against grog-shops, expose wicked
ness in high places, by active means trying
to purify the Church and better the world S
estate, and I find that the newspapers
anathematise him, and men, even good
men, oppose him and denounce him, be-
cause, though he does good, he does not do
| it in their way, say: 'Stephen stoned -
| The world, with infinite spite, took after
John Frederick Oberlin, and Robert Moffat,
and Paul, and Stephen of the text. But you
| notice, my friends, that while they assault
| ed him they did net succeed really in kill
ing him. You may assault a good man, but
you cannot kill him. On the day of his
death Stephen spoke before few people in
the .Sanhedrim; this Sabbath morning he
addresses all. Christendom. Paul the Apostle
stood on. Mars Hill addressing a haadful Of
philosophers who knew not so much about
science as modern school girl. To-day he
talks to all the millions of ChristendOm
about the wonders of justification and the
glories of resurrection. John Wesley was
howled down by the mob to whom he
preached, and they threw bricks at him,
and they denounced him, and they joStled
him, and they spat upon him, and yet to-
day, in all lands, he is admitted to be the
great father of Methodism. Booth bullet
vacated the presidential chair; but from
that spot of coagulated blood on the floor in
the box of Ford's Theatre there sprang up
the new life of a nation. Stephen stoned;
but Stephen alive.
Pass on now; and see Stephen in his dying
prayer. His first thought was not how the
stones hurt his head, nor what would be-
come of his body. His first thought was
about his spirit "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit" The murderer standing on the trap
door, the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grimace
about the future; but you and l have no
shame in confessing some anxiety about
where we are going to come out. You are
not all body. There is within you Il soul.
1 see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day, and
see it irradiating your countenance. Some
times am abashed before an audience, not
because | come under your physical eye
sight, but because l realise the truth, that
| stand before so many immortal spirits
The probability is that your body will at
last find sepulture in some of the ceme-
teries surround this city. There is no doubt
but that your obsequies will be decent and
respectful, and you will be able to pillow
your head under the maple, or the Norway
spruce or the cypress, or the blossoming fir:
but this spirit about which Stephen prayed,
what direction will that take? What guide
will escort i5? What gate will open to re-
ceive it? What cloud will be cleft for its
pathway? After it has got beyond the light
of our sun. will there be torches lighted for
it the rest of the way? Will the soul have
to travel through long deserts before it
reaches the good land? If we should lose
our pathway. will there be castle at whose
gate we NAV ask the way to the city? 0,
this mysterious spirit within us! 1t has
two wings. but it is in a cage now. 1t is
locked fast to keep it; but let the door of
this case open the least, and that soul is off
Eagles wing could not catch it. The light
nings are not swift enough to take up with
| it. When the soul leaves the body it takes
fiftv worlds at a hound And have M anx.
iety abont it? Have you no anxiety about
it? I do not care what YOU do with nv body
when my soul is gone, or whether YOU be-
Iieve in cremation or inhumation. | shall
Fsleep just as well in wrapping of sack